Book 181: Pat in the City by patricia Fields.

 Fun.

Book 180: A Dying Fall by Elly Griffiths

 Reread. One of the best ones.

Book 179: Beautiful People by Amanda Jennings

 This wasn't bad.

Book178: State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

Book 177: The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Book 176: A Room Full of Bones by Elly Griffiths

 Book 4 of the Ruth Galloway series. Didn't remember much of this one at all and really enjoyed it.

Book 175 Pink Glass Houses by Asha Elias

 Mothers at an elite public school in Miami  behaving badly. Pretty well written for kind of a silly book and touched on some important themes.

Book 174: Start Without Me by Gary Janetti

 He is so very very funny. Short book but very entertaining.

Book 173: The House at Sea's End by Elly Griffiths

 I'm continuing with the season of Elly! I recall not liking this book as well as the first two when I first read it but I did like it more this time. I like how she weaves in a lot of different histories of Norfolk.

Book 172: The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths

 Book 2 in the Ruth Galloway series. I'm happy that I'm not remembering these books that much and it is a pleasure to read them again!

Book 171: We are Experiencing a Slight Delay by Gary Janetti

 Very funny essays about travel by a tv writer and producer married to Brad Goreski. 

Book 170: The Understudy by Morgan Richter

 I really liked the first half of this book--All About Eve but set in the world of an experimental opera. The second half was a completely different book--solving a murder mystery of one of the opera performers. It just wasn't that interesting during the second half. 3 1/2 stars rounded up.

Book 169: Darkly by Marissa Pessle

 I don't enjoy her YA books as much as I enjoy her other ones.

Book 168: The In Crowd

 I liked this book--the second book in the Caius Beauchamp detective series. 

Book 167: The Crossing Place by Elly Griffiths

 I'm re-reading the Ruth Galloway series, in order of course, and this is book 1. It is so good--we meet all the characters who are with us through the whole series, and a lot of Nelson and Cathbad's relationship is established in this book. It's just great.

Note: I skipped 10 places in May, so this number is the correct number. I'm too lazy to go correct them all.

Book 176: The Other Half by Charlotte Vassel

 I liked this book a lot--it features a London detective named Caius Beauchamp who has to investigate a murder among the landed gentry (which he isn't). Lots of good characters. This is the first in a series and I'm glad about that!

Book 175: Mendocino and Other Stories by Ann Packer

 One of my favorite books of all time is "The Dive from Claussen's Pier" by Ann Packer. I've liked her other novels too. This collection of short stories is ok. Like many short stories I read, the stories seem able to go on for many more pages but they just....end.  So this book is fine but not great.

Book 174: Acts of Violet by Margarita Montimore

 Magician Violet has been missing for ten years. Is she dead, or somewhere else? A podcast host and her sister try to find the truth. I liked the format of this book (podcast transcripts, letters, stuff like that) but the story was ridiculous, and not in a good way.

Book 173: There is No Ethan by Anna Akbari

 This is a great book. It's about how three women found the person who was 'catfishing' them on line. It's a true story, and you'll wonder how three theoretically smart women spent two years interacting with Ethan, who they never met in person. It's fascinating and so well written. 

Book 172: Art Heist: 50 Artworks you will never see again by Susie Hodge

 Imagine you were in your Intro to Art History Class and the day's lecture was on artworks that have been stolen. This book is pretty much what that class would be. Photo of a stolen artwork, paragraph on when it was stolen and where the artwork might be now. Spoiler alert: it's either destroyed or being held as collateral in a drug deal. Could have been a fascinating book, it wasn't. 

Book 171: The Confidence Games by Tess Amy

 This was kind of a silly book--two con women get blackmailed into stealing a priceless piece of jewelry from a jewelry show. We'll just call it Oceans 2. 

Book 170: None of this is True by Lisa Jewell

 I've never read a Lisa Jewell book, but I will read more (after I recover from this one, haha). A podcaster meets her 'birthday twin' and interviews her for the podcast--and things go badly from there. Very badly. So twisty. Even the end is a twist on a twist. 

Book 169: Cue The Sun by Emily Nussbaum

 This book is about the history of reality tv, but the author only focused on a few programs and gave most of them short shrift. However, there was more about Alan Funt than I ever want to know. 

Book 168: Greenwich by Kate Bond

 This was a pretty intense family story.. Recent HS grad Rachel goes to visit her Aunt and Uncle for the summer--her Aunt is recovering from something (I don't think it is explicitly named, but it involves her back) and Rachel is to keep her company and help out if necessary with the couple's young daughter Sabine. We know from the start that something bad happens that summer but as we read on there's so much darkness in that house and Rachel has to try to figure out how to deal with it all--with the help of Sabine's nanny, Claudia. I could not stop reading this book. It toucnes on themes of money, power, corruption, race, family loyalty--so interesting.

Book 167: The Favorites by Rosemary Hennigan

 This book was interesting but just way too rushed.A young woman leaves Ireland for Pennsylvania to bring down the Professor who ruined her sister's life. Not too realistic. Three and a half stars.

Book 166: Reunion by Elise Juska

 I give this book 4 stars: it almost went to five stars but the ending was very very rushed. Three friends converge for their 25th reunion and examine their lives. 

Book 165: The Pact by Sharon Bolton

 This book was nuts in the best way! Six high school friends did something horrible, and one of them decides to take the blame for them all---all they have to do is promise her a favor in return when she gets out of prison. NEVER PROMISE THIS! SO TWISTY! 

Book 164: Ghosts by Dolly Alderton

 I loved this book--funny and sad all at the same time!

Book 163: A Walk in the Park by Kevin Fedarko

 Loved this book.It's the chronicle of his hike across the Grand Canyon-more than 750 miles (not all done at once---many breaks to get more supplies, attend to injuries and family matters). Beautiful photos by Fedarko's hiking companion. They saw things we will never be able to see, and they're so beautifully described. Wonderful book.

Book 162: The Queen of Fives by Alex Hay

 This is the story of Quinn, the Queen of Fives, who plans to scam a Duke out of his fortune. She is assisted by her companions Silk and Mrs. Airlie, but things don't go to plan. The man in the blue waistcoat is working to stop the goings on. I found Quinn's parts of the narrative interesting but the Blue Waistcoat parts didn't provide enough to keep me interested--but I kept going because I wanted to find out who he was.

Book 161: The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

 This book was very cute and light and witchy. Four stars.

Book 160: Almost Everything by Anne LaMott

 Not my favorite, basically a collection of disjointed stories. Three stars.

Book 159: The Snowbirds by Christina Clancyu

 I just finished The Snowbirds and I give it 🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴.

I really like this story of a couple (Kim and Grant) who leave Madison Wisconsin to spend the winter in Palm Springs and to see if they can continue together as a couple. They've grown apart--can Palm Springs bring them together? The story is told from Kim's point of view and in multiple time periods that give the reader a great overview of their history, but the main focus of the novel is--where is Grant? He left to go hiking on New Year's Day and never came home. I really had to force myself from reading ahead to see if Grant was OK. I liked both characters--they were both very real, meaning they had their good parts and their bad parts, and the other people who come in and out of the story were great as well. All in all, I think this is a good portrait of a long term relationship and I'm glad I read it and will search out other books by the author as well.

Book 158: Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

 I just finished Conversations with Friends and I give it ❤❤❤.

I just don't get Sally Rooney. People love her and I didn't like the characters in this book at all. They're all kind of awful even as she tries to make them sympathetic. Sigh.

Book 157: The Friend Group by Ty Hutchinson

 I loved the first two thirds of this book. A woman and her husband move to Thailand where she is taken under the wing of Vivian and two additional women who help the woman meet people and acclimated. When the woman gets pregnant, Vivian gets weird and the woman worries Vivian is going to harm her baby. At the same time, the woman is still grieving her child who died of SIDS several years earlier, and is having delusions that he is still alive. Anyway--interesting until the last third where her husband becomes Rambo like and everything goes to pieces. 

Book 156: Shakespeare, the Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench

 I just finished Shakespeare, the Man Who Pays the Rent by Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea and I give it 🙇🙇🙇🙇.

This is an interesting book. It's transcripts of conversations between Judi Dench and another actor, Brendan O'Hea, where Brendan asks Judi all about all the roles she played in various Shakespeare plays (there are lots). It is interesting to hear the stories and learn about Shakespeare, but I don't have the recall of various plays the way she does sometimes it was a bit dull. 

Book 155: The Cautious Traveler's Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks

 I just finished The Cautious Traveler's Guide to the Wastelands and I give it 🚆🚆🚆 1/2.

This is kind of an odd book. I guess it would be characterized as historical fantasy maybe? The Trans-Siberian railroad is ferrying travelers from Beijing to Moscow and it must cross The Wastelands, a terrifying place that no one really understands and that can damage the train and the travelers if it can 'break in' to the train. There are numerous characters that we follow on the journey. I liked the first half or so, and the tension as the train travels through the Wastelands is well done. However, the book gets kind of convoluted and political and I didn't like it as well. I really had to push to finish. 

Book 154: The Original Daughter by Jemima Wei

 I can't rate this book because I stopped reading it after about 70% because I was so bored.

Book 153: Almost Everything: Notes on Hope by Anne Lamotte

 I just finished Almost Everything and I give it 🙏🙏🙏🙏..

She's a great writer, that Anne Lamotte, and I liked this book but it is very focused on faith and her perspectives on faith and I'm not too into that. 

Book 152: The Rich People Have Gone Away by Regina Porter

 I just finished The Rich People Have Gone Away and I give it 👮👮👮 1/2.

I don't really know what to make of this book. The two main characters are Theo and Darla, who have a fight while they're hiking after leaving New York for a remote cabin during the pandemic, and Darla disappears. Then we have a bunch of other characters who dance in and out and I'm not quite sure what the whole point was. It was well written though. 

Book 151: Graveyard Shift by MJ Rios

 I just finished Graveyard Shift and I give it ✷✷✷.

Here is what you should know about this book:

-it is a novella, and very short.

-for a short novel, it has a lot of characters. We get to know their motivations pretty quickly but the characters are not well drawn at all. 

-the ending is abrupt and will lead you to say 'what?'

Book 150: Show Don't Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld

 I just finished Show Don't Tell and I give it 💏💏💏💏💏.

I am a big, big fan of Sittenfeld (although I wasn't crazy about Romantic Comedy but that's ok) and even though I'm not a big short story person, I remember liking her other collection of short pieces (You Think It, I'll Say It) so I requested this ARC (thank you NetGalley!). Every piece is a gem. A gem. They're all about women just like us--women who are trying to do their best, but the crazy world sometimes gets in the way. I loved every single story in this collection, even the one I read earlier (The Tomorrow Box) and I can tell this is a collection I'll return to again and again to absorb the nuance and beauty of Sittenfeld's writing. 

Book 149. Famous last words by Gillian McAllister

I just finished Famous Last Words and I give it ⁍⁍⁍⁍.

I'm a Gillian McAllister fan and I was excited to read this book. Cam's life changed in a second when her husband, Luke, held two hostages at gunpoint and then killed them. This was not something Cam expected and when Luke went on the run, Cam tried to put him behind her and to build a life for her baby Polly. Seven years later, when Cam is trying to get Luke declared dead, she gets some odd messages. Is Luke still alive? And does Cam want to know the truth? The book is told from two perspectives--Cam and Niall, who was the hostage negotiator (there's also a mysterious third party that is found in a few sections).

I liked this book, I liked Cam as a character and also her relationship with her daughter Polly. The twists had me gobsmacked! What I didn't really 'get' was the side story with Cam's sister. I'm not sure that was a red herring, exactly, just not sure what it added. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC.

Book 148: Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Atherton

 I just finished Everything I Know About Love and I give it 💗💗💗💗💗.

I really liked Atherton's novel "Good Material" and I loved her memoir. It's about her years from age 20-30 (with little dips back into childhood) and it's basically a celebration of her girl friends through the years. It just made me feel so happy and hopeful, and it was great before-bed reading. 

Book 147: Shattered by Valerie Davisson

 I just finished Shattered and I give it 🔥🔥🔥 1/2.

This is the first in a series of sort-of cozy mysteries by someone who lives on the Oregon coast, and the heroine (Logan McKenna) is a recent widow who moves to a small town called Jasper where I think she grew up? Anyway, she is helping at a big crafts fair (love) when a glassblower is found murdered. There are lots of suspects, including her friends who own the booth where she is working. Lots of red herrings, some interesting stuff about glass blowing and about Native American culture (love), some unfinished stuff which is kind of frustrating (her dead husband was having an affair?) and who is the lady who is a chess expert who runs the coffee place? I imagine if I keep going with the series I'll know more and I'll probably try the second book (it's on Kindle Unlimited so it's pretty low risk). 

Book 146 Coram House by Bailey Seybolt.

 I just finished Coram House and I give it 🛥🛥🛥🛥.

When Alex moves to upstate Vermont to be a ghostwriter, her life is in shambles. Will working on this new book, about abuses at a catholic convent, help or hurt? As she gets deeper into the story, she uncovers more secrets and more danger. I liked this book--it's a good mystery. I was hesitant because I really didn't want to read about sexual abusers in the Catholic church but that was not the focus of the story at all. There were lots of red herrings and maybe one too many (Xander? Not sure what that storyline added) and on the whole a good read.

Book 145: Case Histories by Kate Atkinson

I just finished Case Histories and I give it ☆☆☆☆☆.

How have I never read any of the Jackson Brodie series? Silly silly me. This is Tana French quality literary mystery stuff. Loved it.

Book 144: The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

 I just finished The Correspondent and I give it 🖊🖊🖊🖊🖊.

I really liked this book--I love epistolary novels, for starters, and I love the character of Sybil. I loved how much of a story can be told with just letters. I'm 66 years old, and this book makes me hopeful that there's still plenty of good left in the world and my life. Highly recommend.

I read this via NetGalley.

Book 143: Weyward by Emilia Hart

 I just finished Weyward and I give it 🐝🐝🐝🐝 1/2.

I had this book in my TBR pile, and after I finished her new book Sirens I went back and read this one. It was sort of like Sirens--multiple time periods, multiple narrators--with a theme of female empowerment in the face of misogyny and abuse. I have to say, I think Sirens was a bit richer--the character of Violet was well drawn, but the other two not so much.  You have to wonder if Kate walked away so easily from her bad relationship at the start of the book, why couldn't she have done that earlier? Anyway, it's a hard story to read but I'm glad I did.

Book 142: Colored Television by Danzy Senna

 I just finished Colored Television and I give it ★★★1/2.

I think I just don't have the brain for satire. This book is positioned as a satire of the television industry, and I guess it kind of is, but I thought satire was supposed to be funny? Maybe not. Anyway, it's the story of a mixed race woman named Jane who is trying to get tenure at her University where she's an instructor (yes, the lack of understanding how universities work was bothering to me). When her novel is rejected (a history of mixed raced people in America, only she uses the word mulattos which makes me uncomfortable to write), she tries to get a development job in television working on a show about mulattos. It's all kind of odd.

Book 141: A Fine Romance by Candice Bergen

 I just finished A Fine Romance and I give it ☆☆☆☆.

I read Bergen's first memoir years ago (Knock Wood) and liked it. This one starts from, whooo boy, maybe 1985 or so? It covers her marriage to Louis Malle, Murphy Brown, the birth of her daughter, the death of Louis Malle, and her marriage to her second husband. It was a good read, but only goes to about 2015, so I'm not sure what she is up to now. But you know what? She would be great on OMITB.

Book 140: Return to Wyldecliff Heights by Carol Goodman

 I just read Return to Wyldecliff Heights and I give it 🔥🔥🔥.

In general, I love a good Jane Eyre retelling but this was not a good one. Agnes is sent to Wyldecliff Heights to be the transcriber for a sequel to a famous gothic book, but she ends up with much more than she bargained for. There's a book within a book but with so many characters and so many twists that it was hard to keep track of it all. Literally the last 1/10th of the book was twist after twist after twist. Not a fan.

Book 139: The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings

 I just finished The Descendants and I give it 🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴.

This is a re-read--the book came out in 2007 and the George Clooney movie came out in 2007. I'm not sure when I first read it--maybe when we got back from Kauai?  Anyway--this is a great book even though it is very very sad. Matt's wife, Joanie, is in a horrific boating accident and is brain dead, and he has to lead his two daughters through the process of letting her go. At the same time, he has to decide who to sell a huge amount of property too--he is one of the original descendants of Hawaiian royalty and he and some family members own this hugely valuable land. Oh, and he finds out his wife was having an affair before she had the accident. It's about holding on and letting go and written with such beauty and humor. I love this book.

Book 138: Plays Well With Others by Sophie Brickman

 I just finished Plays Well With Others and I give it 🏫🏫🏫🏫 1/4.

This book is a lot of things: at one level, it's a book about trying to get your child into Kindergarten in Manhattan, at another it's about feeling lost as a mother and losing one's identity, at another it's a wicked take on the Prisoner's Dilemma (which was also featured on an episode of the Mole that we watched last night--I guess it's back in style?). It went on a tiny bit too long but all in all a good read. 

Book137: The Sirens by Emilia Hart

 I just finished The Sirens and I give it 🐠🐠🐠🐠🐠.

WOW! This book is amazing. I have not read anything by this author so I didn't know what to expect but it had so many great elements in it. Multiple narrators? Check. Multiple time periods? Check. A mystery? Check. A hint of fantasy (maybe)? Check. Strong female characters? Check check check check. Did I learn something about the world that I didn't know before? Check. Do I now believe in mermaids? Check. 

The writing is amazing, I truly felt transported. Parts of the story are hard to read, but there is so much hope in this book. Just wonderful. 

Book 136: The Engagements by J Courtney Sullivan

 I just finished The Engagements and I give it ♢♢♢♢.

This book is from Sullivan's back catalogue and I liked it, but there was a lot of depressing stuff in this novel.There are several stories intertwined, all connected by the story of the copywriter who wrote the line "A Diamond is Forever". It's about how diamonds came to symbolize love, and how very different marriages struggle to survive. It all gets wrapped up together in the end although I was wondering how it would. 

Book 135: The Wedding Sisters by Jamie Brennan

 I just finished The Wedding Sisters and I give it💒💒💒 3/4. 

This is a fun and pretty light story (with a few heavy parts) about five women:Mavis is the mom of three daughters, the next character is her mom, and finally the three daughters who all end up getting engaged about the same time (Meg, Amy and Jo). Of course, everyone has a secret, but the secrets weren't that bad and it was fun to see how three very different women might (or might not) be able to come together for their joint wedding. Pretty mindless fun.  

Book 134: Never Saw Me Coming by Tanya Smith

 I just finished Never Saw Me Coming and I give it ★★★1/2.

As a teenager, Tanya Smith figured out how to defraud banks by tapping into their 'reserves' and paying off friends' and neighbors' mortgates and bills. As she got older, she set up a system to continue defrauding banks, spurred in part by a law enforcement officer telling her she couldn't have done it since she was a young black woman. The first part of this memoir is fascinating, as she develops her 'business' while trying to maintain some semblance of a normal life.The second half devolves into bad relationships, poor decisions, and a lot of time in prison. It got a bit much. I

Book 133: The Knockoff by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza

 I just finished The Knockoff and I give it 👠👠👠.

Mix "The Devil Wears Prada" with "All About Eve" and something about women in tech and you get this book. It was kind of interesting: Imogen returns to the magazine she edits after a rather long sabbatical due to a health problem only to find that her former assistant has been hired as her editorial partner and the assistant (Eve) is taking the magazine online to be only an app. Eve is a horrible bitch and Imogen feels like a dinosaur. Can she come out on top? I bet you can figure that out. Kind of long and not very intersting.

Book 132: All That Glitters by Orlando Whitfield

 I just finished All That Glitters and I give it 🖌🖌🖌.

This is Whitfield's memoir of working in the art industry (love) and his friendship with Inigo Philbrick, another art dealer (confusing). Philbrick (this isn't a spoiler) gets convicted of an art crime, and this book is Whitfield trying to figure out how his friend turned so bad. Philbrick would basically buy a painting, and then sell 'shares' of the painting--the idea is that as the painting increased in value, so would the shares he sold. But his scam was he sold many more 'shares' than were available--so he sold a 50% share to 4 or 5 people. It's confusing and honestly not too interesting. So that's why it's only a 3 star (paintbrush) book.

Book 131: The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door by HG Parry

 I just finished The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door and I give it 🪽🪽🪽🪽🪽.

I really liked this book. I would consider it a cross between The Magicians and Harry Potter (although heavier on the Magicians) and the 1920s setting evokes how countries survive and build back after a horrible event (e.g. WW1). I loved the character of Clover and the Camford school was vividly drawn. I'm not a huge fantasy person but this one was one of the most realistic fantasies I've ever read (and that is a huge positive). Highly recommend.

Book 130: The Year of Living Constitutionally by AJ Jacobs

 I just finished The Year of Living Constitutionally and I give it ★★★ 3/4.

I've read several other books by Jacobs--one where he lives according to the Bible for a year, one about puzzles, and I like his writing style and the way he researches his topics and reports back in a fun and accessible way. This book was fine, and I learned a lot about the Constitution and the current debates surrounding it, but the challenge is that it isn't that straightforward to live 'constitutionally'---basically because the Constitution tells you what you CAN do, not what you MUST do, and that's just not as interesting. But if you want a light book that will have you feel like you learned something at the end, this is a good choice. 

Book 129: The Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors

 I just finished The Blue Sisters and I give it 🔹🔹🔹.

Three sisters reunite in New York City to go through the belongings of a fourth sister who has recently died from an (accidental? not sure) overdose. All the sisters have issues--Avery just cheated on her wife, Bonny just beat up a guy, Lucky is a trainwreck. Yeah, I get that much of this is due to grief from the loss of their sister, and reflecting on how messed up their upbringing was, but I found the characters unlikable and didn't want to spend any more time with them. 

Book 128: After Annie by Anna Quindlen

 I just finished After Annie and I give it ★★★★.

Wife and mother of four Annie has an aneurism and collapses and dies one dinnertime, leaving her husband Bill, her four children, and her best friend Annemarie to figure out their lives in the wake of this horrible event. Told from the perspectives of Bill, the oldest daughter Ali, and Annemarie, this book is very well written but oh so so so very sad. We all navigate grief in different ways, and this book is very illustrative of that, although the ending seemed too unrealistic for me. 

Book 127 The Moonlight Market by Joanne Harris

 I just finished The Moonlight Market and I give it 🌓🌓🌓.

I have not read any Joanne Harris (she does what  guess is called 'urban fantasy' and she wrote the book from which the movie 'Chocolat' was made) but it sounded like this book was my cup of tea--a young man discovers a mysterious and magical market and falls in love with someone there. Well, friends, the magical market (which is what drew me in) gets very short shrift, and this book instead is about a war between two different groups of very mean but beautiful fairies, based on a long held grudge/issue, and it was a bit convoluted for me. I wanted it to be all market, all the time and the market was about 1/20 of the whole book. I really had to force myself to read it (it was pretty short which was the one thing that kept me going).

Book 126: The Summer We Started Over by Nancy Thayer

 I just finished The Summer We Started Over and I give it 🌤🌤🌤 1/2.

I had high hopes, because even though I think Nancy Thayer is a bit of an Elin H-light who is not as good by a mile (imho), this premise was good, of a family moving to Nantucket to open a boutique and a used book store but it was soooooo romancy. So romancy. Too romancy for this woman. YMMV.

Book 125: High Tea and the Low Down: An American's Unfiltered Life in the UK by Claire Craig Evans

 I just read High Tea and the Low Down, and I give it ♔♔♔. 

This is a short memoir from a woman who got married to a british guy and moved to the UK, and all the culture shock she dealt with. The first half was well written and interesting, about how they met and how they moved and how they found their house. The second half was a bunch of short--one page--'reflections' on something british and she tried to be snarky but it didn't work. 

Book 124: Great Expectations by Vinson Cunningham

 I just finished Great Expectations and I give it ⚐⚐⚐ 3/4 stars.

Cunningham was a staffer in the Obama administration, and also worked on his first campaign, and so this book is a fictionalized account of the first campaign along with a young man's experiences growing up in Chicago and New York. I liked the campaign stuff but the other stuff was a bit too philosophical for me.

Book 123: The Unseen World by Liz Moore

  I just finished The Unseen World and I give it 🌎🌎🌎🌎🌎.

I have to say, I am late to the Liz Moore party but it is a party that you must join as well. I think she is one of the best writers working right now. This story is about a girl, Ada, who finds out as a teen ager that her father, diagnosed with early onset dementia, is not who he said he was. But who is he? I loved this book.

Book 122: A Novel Summer by Jamie Brenner

 I just finished A Novel Summer and I give it 📕📕📕 1/2.

I was hoping Jamie Brenner would be the 'successor' to the Elin Hilderbrand reign of summer fiction but alas it is not to be. This was a cute book, but there were so many eye rolls in it. It's the story of three women who are friends--one lives in Provincetown, one vacations in Provincetown, and one is friends with the vacationer and worked in the bookshop owned by Full timer's parents. As the book opens, the third woman has just published her first book (one year out of college) and it becomes a RUNAWAY BEST SELLER (eye roll) and then friend #2 reads it and figures out that it's basically her biography (eye roll) so she gets mad at #3. #3 has writer's block so she moves to P-town to work in #1's parents' book shop, which #1 has been running while the parents were travelling, but now #1 is pregnant and is put on bed rest so #3 has to run it. Following the plot yet? In the meantime, #3's ex boyfriend's new girlfriend is OPENING ANOTHER BOOKSHOP! (eye roll)  and #3 is mad. In the meantime, again, #2 and #3 are both sleeping with THE SAME FAMOUS AUTHOR WHO IS VACATIONING IN PTOWN (eye roll)! And then #3 gets OVER her writer's block only to write a novel that is, instead of #2's life, is #1's life! And then #1 gets mad (eye roll). 

On top of all this, there is some very, very poor copy editing (example: descriptions of people's clothing changes over the course of a few paragraphs) so that is also an eye roll. 

If you like eye-rollers, this is a book for you!

Book 121: The House of Mirrors by Erin Kelly

 I just finished The House of Mirrors and give it 🪞🪞🪞🪞🪞.

I'm a big Erin Kelly fan and I just loved this book! I had to order it from the UK but it was worth every penny! It's a family story about a family that harbors a secret, one that sent a father to prison and that threatens the relationship between their daughter and her fiance. I was worried that the 'big twist' about halfway through would ruin the book but it made it so very much richer. If you haven't read any Erin Kelly, this is a great one to read as well as the Skeleton Key. 

Book 120: Wanted: Toddler's Personal Assistant by Stephanie Kiser

 I just finished Wanted: Toddler's Personal Assistant and I give it 👀👀👀. That's three stars, by the way!

This book was positioned as a fun tell-all about nannying for wealthy people, but it wasn't. Here is what I wrote on NetGalley: 

This book is a memoir of the author's time working as a nanny for very wealthy families in NYC and contrasting that with her own upbringing in a working class family. While the writing is fine, I kept feeling that Kiser wanted to be seen as the Stephanie Land of nannying, but neither her backstory nor her insights into the lives and challenges of her wealthy employees bring this book up to that level.

Book 119: The Man in Black and Other Stories by Elly Griffiths

 I just finished The Man in Black and I give it ★★★★.

I love Elly Griffith's Ruth Galloway series (sadly ended) and the Harbinder Kaur series, so of course I had to get this book (I had to get it from the UK, it doesn't come out in the US until October). It's good of course, some stories about Ruth and Nelson, a couple about Harbinder, a few stand alones, a bit spooky, all in all a good collection. I took off one star because several of these have been published elsewhere so I was kind of disappointed that they were recycled. 

Book 118: The Accidental Bestseller by Wendy Wax

 I just finished the Accidental Bestseller and I give it 📘📘📘.

I had mentioned that I would give another book of Wax's a chance (in my search for the next Elin H book) and so I read this one. It's about four authors who are close friends. When one of the four is struggling with a book deadline, the other three agree to 'chip in' some chapters of the book (which they really shouldn't do, given their publishing contracts). The chapters also gave away some BIG secrets in each woman's life. 

The problem with this book (and this is a spoiler) was that the women were SHOCKED that someone figured out that they all participated in the book and that there was FALLOUT. This had me rolling my eyes. 

The women weren't particularly interesting or even easy to tell apart. In the hands of someone like Elin H, this would have been a terrific book (and it would be set on Nantucket to boot).  Sorry Wendy Wax, I'm done with you.

Book 117: Black Bird Oracle by Deborah Harkness

 I just finished Black Bird Oracle and I give it 🕯🕯🕯1/2.

Let me start by saying I LOVED the Discovery of Witches trilogy--just loved it. Loved that the focus was on both magic and history, with a little romance thrown in. Let me next say I HATED the TV adaptation, which made it all romance and violence and I thought the two main characters (Diana and Matthew) were horribly cast. I didn't like Time's Convert (book 4), I found it boring. So now we have book 5, which returns to the story of Diana and Matthew.  The couple, along with their Bright Born twins Pip and Becca, are about to head to England for the summer when Diana is summoned to the home of her father's family. She goes, and she learns some stuff, and learns more stuff, and has a little tussle, and learns stuff, and has a tussle, and learns stuff, and has a tussle, and learns stuff, and has a tussle. There's a lot on her father's backstory, which fills stuff in (but it's all told from the father's side of the family, so you have to wonder....) and there's nothing really BAD that happens--oh no, the author holds onto that until the final pages of the book, so now we have to wait for, oh, four years, to find out what happens. 

I like Harkness' writing, but I find the sex scenes a blend of old fashioned and icky, and yes, Diana and Matthew are hot for one another, we got that. 

Disappointing.

Book 116: Long Bright River by Liz Moore

 I just finished Long Bright River and I give it ★★★★1/2.

I didn't like this book as much as I liked The God of the Woods, but I really liked it. I have read the description numerous times and never chose to read it because, honestly, it sounded so depressing and most of the book was--Michaela (Micky), a police officer, searches for her sister Kacey, a junkie, in Philadelphia. At the same time, she is trying to figure out who is murdering women in her precinct. Cheery, huh? The book draws the characters expertly, and the writing is sharp and distinctive. 

Book 115: The Californians by Brian Castleberry

 I just finished The Californians and I give it 🎨🎨🎨🎨 1/2.

The Californians is a sprawling story about two California familes and how they intersect over almost a century. There are three intertwined stories, but the primary ones belong to Klaus (a silent film director who moves over to television) and Di (Klaus' granddaughter, a contemporary artist). The story begins with Tobey, related to the actor who starred in Klaus' biggest tv hit, stealing some of Di's paintings from his father's house after fleeing a wildfire. The story of the paintings are the basis for the rest of the book, but it's also about family, art, commerce, politics, and the choices we make to invent and re-invent ourselves. I really liked it.

Book 114 One Italian Summer by Rebecca Searle

 I've just finished One Italian Summer and I give it ☼☼☼☼.

I've read a few Rebecca Searle books and liked them, and I liked this one too. You basically have to suspend belief when you read her books, but if you can do that this is a light and frothy story with minimal serious undertones. Katy travels to Positano in Italy on a trip she was supposed to take with her mom, but sadly her mom died a few weeks before the trip. Katy goes anyway, and guess what? She meets her mom! Her mom when her mom was 30 and spent the summer in Positano. Katy also meets a fascinating man (and she's pondering separating from her husband even before she meets the fascinating man). Anyway, I read this book in about 2 1/2 hours and it was well worth it. 

Book 113: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

 I just finished The God of the Woods and I give it 🧸🧸🐻🐻🐻. I loved this book.

The plot is that a camper disappears in the woods, 15 or so years after her brother disappeared (and was never found). The camp is owned by a very wealthy family, and both children are members of the family. There's so much in this book about wealth and privilege, families and their intricacies and how they mess you  up, families we make--I just loved this book. It was tense and wonderful.  I now want to read everything Liz Moore has ever written!

Book 112: The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

 I just finished The Ministry of Time and I give it ⏰⏰⏰ 1/2.

What WAS this book? I can't even describe it. I was fascinated by the time travel parts: people from the past are retrieved and sent to the modern time where they're given a 'bridge' to help them adjust to the present time. I loved the relationship between the narrator (the bridge) and her expat. But I never really got the WHY for the time travel, and then all of a sudden it's a violent spy-type thing that I didn't get either. The writing was great, there's just a lot I just couldn't figure out in this book.

Book 111: Mediocre Monk by Grant Lindsley

 I just finished Mediocre Monk and I give it 🧘🧘🧘 1/2.

This book is a memoir of Lindsley's six months experience the Thai Forest Tradition of Buddhism.  In this tradition, men live a monastic experience that begins with meditation in the morning, work, alms (going out in the community and collecting food/money from people in the village), more work, the one meal a day, and then basically 12 hours of silent meditation and sleeping until the next morning. He begins at a fairly large monastery and then goes to a very small one. Lindsley writes of his struggles and of the people he meets, and he writes well, but the reader doesn't know exactly why he has chosen to do this, and if he will do this for the rest of his life. Throughout the memoir, little hints as to why he is there pop up, but it isn't til the very end that we learn the reason why he went and whether he stayed or not. 

I think learning all this made me feel a bit cheated by the book--knowing the reason why he joined wouldn't have made any difference in the course of the book, but knowing about his ultimate motivations would have, which I'm sure he struggled with. So I felt like he wasn't as authentic as he could be. The writing is good, I learned a lot about buddhism (well, in retrospect, probably not a whole lot) but as I mentioned, I feel a bit cheated. 

Book 110: Speech Team by Tim Murphy

 I just finished Speech Team and I give it 📖📖📖 1/2 stars.

This book is about a group of 30-somethings who reunite after one of their fellow members of their High School speech team commits suicide. In his suicide note, the friend mentioned that their speech team coach said something offensive to him in High School. The four surviving members get in touch and it turns out the the coach said horrible things to all of them, and those things all influenced their lives moving forward. So the question is: can we ever leave High School behind? I liked it but didn't love it. 

Book 109: Enlightenment by Sarah Perry

 I just finished Enlightenment and I give it ☄☄☄☄.

Perry wrote 'The Essex Serpent' and if you liked that book you'll like this one, but it is a bit of an odd read. In modern day Essex, newspaper reporter Thomas is living a dull and unhappy life. He attends church at a conservative place called Bethesda, where he befriends Grace, the daughter of a very conservative man. The story involves (to some degree) how Thomas discovers the story of a woman who discovered a comet, but it also is a story of how we discover who we are and what we want to be. It's a thick story that may put off a lot of people--there's science, and there's religion, and there's some very descriptive writing--but I liked it. 

BOOK 108: THE Examiner by Janice Hallett

 I just finished The Examiner and I give it 🖌🖌🖌🖌🖌. 

I'm a huge JH fan, but I had no idea she had a new book coming out. When I saw it was a 'read now' on NetGalley I was so excited! I really like this book. First, I like that Hallett uses the epistolary format, using emails, message platforms and 'reports' to tell the story. Second, like her other books, there's an interesting cast of characters that are easy to tell apart, even without the devices used in traditional storytelling. Third, there's something untoward happening but it's hard to figure out exactly what it is, until the twists start happening. AND THERE ARE TWISTS GALORE! They all make sense and it's such a fun ride. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book!

Book 107 Ten Beach Road by Wendy Wax

 I just finished 10 Beach Road and I give it 🏖🏖🏖1/2.

I've been looking for a replacement for my Elin Hilderbrand addiction and a few different blogs recommended Wendy Wax books. I tried 10 Beach Road and it was just ok. It was very Elin-adjacent as it was about three women (Nicole, Maddy-sometimes-called-Madeline, and the Third One) who were all scammed by a Bernie Madoff type guy. The settlement each one was offered was 1/3 of a giant old beach house in Florida.  They all get to the beach house and it needs a ton of work to sell to make money. Each of the women have an Issue, and they all agree to stay and do the work because a contractor that the Third One (I can't think of her name) knew from childhood said he would do the work and get paid back from the proceeds of the sale. Anyway, this very very long book is about how they renovated the house and how they dealt with all their Issues. The Issues were not very interesting and the premise that a contractor would work for free including buying all the materials did not seem realistic to me. Anyway, I may try one more by Wendy Wax but I'm not holding out a lot of promise.

106 A Great Marriage by Frances Mayes

 I just finished The Great Marriage and I give it 💜💜💜💜💜. I loved this book. 

Here's what I wrote on Netgalley: I loved this book. It's the story of engaged couple Dara and Austin, and how one mistake derailed their future. It's about their parents, their friends, their families, and the fallout from one stupid decision on all their lives. It is so beautifully written and sad and charming and evocative. I loved all the characters (with the slight exception of Dara, she just wasn't one of my favorites) and I loved the structure of the book. Highest recommendation.

105 The Wedding People by Alison Espach

 I just finished The Wedding People and I give it 👫👫👫👫. 

This is two wedding books in a row for me! I read this as a galley from NetGalley and here's my review: I enjoyed this novel--the story is different than anything I've read. Phoebe leaves her life to go to a hotel in Newport, Rhode Island, where she has a specific plan to accomplish, but when she arrives at the very expensive hotel she finds out it has been taken over by a wedding party. The 'wedding people' pretty much take Phoebe in and she learns about them and about what she wants out of her own life (I am being vague because anything else would be lots of spoilers). The characters are good--I really liked Phoebe, and I didn't like Lila which is fine--and I liked the setting. If you've ever been to an 'overdone' wedding you'll appreciate the details in this book.

Book 104: Unwedding by Allie Condie

 I just finished Unwedding and I give it 💒💒💒 3/4. 

I really need to stop reading these 'locked room' thrillers, because they're so repetitive. For some reason, though, these books get all the attention! Anyway, in this book, Ellery goes on vacation to a remote (of course) high end  (of course) resort by herself (she was supposed to go with her husband, but he leaves her and still wants her to go the resort). Also at the resort is a wedding party.  The first night--someone is murdered! Then there is a horrible storm, and they're all trapped at the resort! Then someone ELSE is murdered! Can Ellery and her new friends Ravi and Nicole figure out what's going on, so they also don't die? Can Ellery stop having flashbacks to the horrible school bus accident she was in, which didn't seem connected to the plot at all? I kept thinking someone from the horrible accident was going to be a guest at the resort but spoiler: no one was. Anyway, very short chapters kept me reading. The ending was awful (it was all recapped to Ellery). I swear to myself I will STOP READING LOCKED ROOM THRILLERS although I do have to say this one was one of the better one's I've read lately. 

Book 103: Vintage Contemporaries by Dan Kois

 I just finished Vintage Contemporaries and I give it ✩✩✩✩1/2 stars!

It's the story of two women named Emily who meet in NYC at the end of the 1990s. Emily (who is called Em when the two are friends) works in publishing, Emily is a sometimes-bartender, sometimes-bookseller, sometimes-addict who wants to produce theatre. The story takes place in two time periods: when Em and Emily are friends and Emily is living in a squat in NYC, and several years later, when Em (now known as Emily) is raising her daughter with her husband Alan. There are a few switches in time periods, not a lot so it doesn't get confusing, as we learn that the two women had a falling out but it is unclear why. Another storyline is how Em/Emily is building her literary career by editing a book by her mom's college friend who has a life-threatening disease. I really liked this book and really liked the characters, but I wasn't crazy about the ending (like, the very ending) and I'm really glad I read this book.

Book 102: Honey by Isabel Banta

 I read this as an arc, and I don't think anyone should pay for this book. Here's what I wrote at NetGalley.

This was almost a DNF after about a third but I kept at it. Honey is the story of Amber, who we meet as a young girl singing in a school talent show and being signed by an agent. She loses on Star Search but then has a career as a pop singer. She's talented but doesn't work hard, and her image is the 'bad girl' and everything is all about her sexuality. I don't know, it seems like this book's strategy was to take every Britney/Madonna/Jessica Simpson cliche and roll them into this book. Amber wasn't really an interesting character to me, nor were the other characters in the book. I'm sorry I didn't like this more.

Book 101: The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne

 I just finished The Friday Afternoon Club and I give it ✩✩✩✩.

I don't know a lot about Griffin Dunne, only that I really hated the movie "After Hours". I knew he produced a lot of stuff but I had no idea he was Dominick Dunne's son, John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion's nephew, and Carrie Fisher's best friend. This was a well written memoir but it's not a Hollywood tell-all--his sister was murdered by a boyfriend and much of the story is about the murder, the trial, and the impact it had on his family. It concludes right after he marries Cary Lowell (I had no idea he was married to Cary Lowell) and I would read the next volume of his memoir.

Book 100: Drawing Home by Jamie Brenner

 It's my 100th book of the year and it's Drawing Home by Jamie Brenner. I just finished it and I give it ✎✎✎✎.

This is my second book by Jamie Brenner and it follows kind of a similar format: three women come together for REASONS and they need to work things out. The women are Emma, who works at a hotel is Sag Harbor, her daughter Penny who is 14 and has anxiety and OCD, and Bea, who is an artist's rep in NYC. The story opens with the death of a famous artist who had befriended Peggy at the bar in the hotel where Emma works, and who Bea represents. Bea thinks she is going to inherit the beautiful, expansive waterfront home of the artist, but no! He has left it to Penny. The story revolves around how it all works out and how each woman figures out what she really wants in life, and how to get it. It's a sweet story and well written with a few little surprises that I didn't expect, and it is a nice summer weekend read.

Book 99: Under her Spell by KL Cerra

 I just finished Under Her Spell and I give it 🪡🪡🪡.  This is kind of interesting until it gets very unpleasant.  Here's my NetGalley review: After years of estrangement, Liv receives a message from her high school best friend Sam--Sam thinks she is in danger and needs Liv's help. Liv leaves her fiancee and travels back to her home town in Connecticut, where she re-meets some of her high school classmates, who run a bridal business. As Liv searces for clues to Sam's disappearance, she begins to learn more about what her former classmates have been up to. And what they've been up to is--well, not good.

This book kept me reading, and while I'm not adverse to a little witchcraft this book just got too creepy and ugly for me, especially the final third. There's an interesting message here, but it's buried under a bit too much horror for me.

Book 98: The Reappearance of Rachel Price by Holly Jackson

 I just finished The Reappearance of Rachel Price and I give it ☝☝☝.

The first third, or almost half I guess, of this book was great: Bel's mom disappeared when Bel was a baby, and there's a film crew doing a documentary on it.  Bel was fun and snarky and had a great relationship with her dad and her extended family. Even when the title event happens (Rachel, Bel's mom, comes home), it continued to be fun, as Bel was trying to figure out whether her Mom is telling the truth about where she was or not. But then it becomes very dark and this shift of tone just did not work for me. The changes in character of how people were behaving also did not make sense for me. It turns out that this is technically a YA book and I would NOT want a young adult reading this book. Anyway. Not recommending.

Book 97: Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand

 I just finished Swan Song and I give it 🦢🦢🦢🦢1/2.

It's no secret I love Elin Hilderbrand and this book, theoretically the last one she will write set on Nantucket, is a good one. It revisits several characters from previous books wrapped around the story of a new couple to the Island (who are social climbers) and their relationship with their 'personal concierge', Coco. 

I took half a swan off because it was too short, and so much of the story could have been enhanced, particularly some of the interpersonal relationships of The Castaways. 

Book 96: The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections by Eva Jurczyk

 I just finished The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections and give it 📙📙📙📙.

Liesl is trying to retire but gets draw back to her job at the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections because her boss has a stroke. When she gets there, she discovered several of their rare books have gone missing. She has to deal wtih that, alongside pesky donors, annoying administrators, and her troubled husband. I liked this book a lot, but I wasn't crazy about the character of Liesl and we didn't know enough about her relationship with her troubled husband for this to make sense. 

Book 95: This is How We End Things by RJ Jacobs

 I just finished This is How We End Things and I give it ★★★.

It started so good--a group of grad students running what was pretty much an unauthorized, Milgram-type experiment. But then it just devolved into a run of the mill thriller that twisted around a few times but was ultimately not  very interesting.

Book 94: A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall

 I just finished "A Letter to the Luminous Deep" and I give it five stars. FIVE STARS. I loved this book.

Here are book genres I avoid: Romance. Sci-Fi. Steampunk. Here are book genres I love: Epistolary. Academic. And this book encompassed all of those, and I loved it. 

After our world ends, a new civilization forms in the world covered by oceans where scholars learn about all the creatures and activities of a water based world. One scholar, Sophy, needs to find out what happened to her sister who disappeared with her true love, Henery. Henery's brother also wants to find out. The book itself is letters between Sophy and Henery's brother, Henery and Sophy's sister, and several other characters involved in the story. 

It's just too much to explain but I totally loved this book.

Book 93: The Forever Summer by Jamie Brenner

 I just finished The Forever Summer and give it 🌞🌞🌞🌞.

I liked this book. It reminded me a lot of Elin Hilderbrand books---the setting was Provincetown, NJ, it was a family story, and there's happiness and sadness. Two women find out they are half sisters via a DNA test, and that their grandmother runs a B&B in Provincetown. They end up going there, uncovering family secrets, and deciding about their futures. This is a great summer book.

Book 92: You Are Here by David Nicholls

 I just finished You Are Here and I give it ★★★.

I don't know why I could not get into this book. It's a good premise--a group goes for a cross-England hike, with one person in the group planning to match up several of the singletons in the group (they're all in their late 30s). Various things happen and it gets down to the last two people who learn about one another over the course of the hike. The characters were perfectly likable, but I could not get into this story. YMMV.

Book 91: A Dark and Secret Magic by Wallis Kinney

 I just finished A Dark and Secret Magic and I give it 🧹🧹🧹🧹. Here's my review from Goodreads:

A Dark and Secret Magic reminds me a little bit of A Discovery of Witches, only a little bit more 'down to earth' and not quite as literary. It's the story of Kate, a 'hedge witch' who is reaching an important milestone in her life as a witch. She lives a fairly solitary life. That all changes with the coming of Halloween and Samhain, when a stranger at her door starts a sequence of events that will change her life. I like stories when witchcraft is connected to real life, without a lot of hocus pocus, and I enjoyed how this book handled that. I am not a huge romance fan and this was probably a bit too romance-y for me, but that's ok. I liked the relationship between Kate and her two sisters. All in all, a good read and I'd read a sequel.

Book 90: DV by Diana Vreeland

 I just re-read DV and I give it ☺☺☺☺.

Vreeland wrote this memoir several decades ago, and it is a mishmash of autobiography and recanting of stories of her encounters with fashion and famous people and royalty. I liked it so much when I was younger, I liked it less at the age I am now because I felt she only wrote about her surface life--who was she really? But I like it.

Book 89: Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty

 I just finished Here One Moment and I give it 🪽🪽🪽🪽.  

Here is what I wrote at Goodreads.

This new book by Liane Moriarty is really interesting and I was sucked in from the start. A woman traveling on a plane gets up and tells everyone on the flight how old they'll be when they die and what they'll die from. The story, then, is what happens to several of the people who were informed of their demise, interspersed with the life story of the woman (who comes to be known as the Death Lady). I liked all the characters, and really did not want any of them to die (especially in the ways they suspected). In typical Moriarty fashion, there are a LOT of characters in this book, and I could have probably done with one fewer (probably either Leo or Ethan). I think the Death Lady's stories went on a bit long as well. All in all, it was a good read that just needed a bit tightening up.

I was lucky to read this book as an ARC!

Book 88: First Street, a Novel by a Bunch of People

 I just finished First Street and I give it ☆☆☆.

This is a book about four clerks at the Supreme Court, and interestingly there are a bunch of authors affiliated with this book (see them all here.). Each chapter lists the author for that chapter. Anyway, the book reads like a novelization of a television show--very episodic, very 'law suit of the day', and also lots of interpersonal stuff--sort of The Resident at the Supreme Court. The four clerks are pretty stereotyped: Gabriel is a hispanic army veteran who leans far right who was the 'second choice' for his clerkship, Jack is the son of a Congressman who disagrees with everything his father stands for, Odessa is a former ballerina who struggles with leaving her dancing past behind, and Charlotte is neurodivergent and learning how to get along with this variable group of people. The justices are stereotyped as well (at least the ones we read about, which is only three of the group). Anyway, it's a fast read and the bits about how to court operates is interesting, but this descends too quickly into soap opera territory. And then it ends in a huge cliffhanger with no followup book. Not good.

Book 87: The Witches of Bellinas by J. Nicole Jones

 I just finished The Witches of Bellinas and I give it 🧹🧹🧹🧹🧹. 

It's hard to describe this book---it's the story of Tansy, who moves to Bellinas at the invitation of her new husband's cousin, Mia. Bellinas is perfect! Absolutely perfect! Well, except for the somewhat airy-fairy qualities of most of the women. And the children who all look like Mia's husband, Manny. And Manny himself. As Tansy gets deeper into the mysteries of Bellinas, she also discovers some mysteries about herself. This book won't be for everyone, but I really liked it.

Book 86: Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan

 I just finished Lies and Weddings and I give it 🪭🪭🪭🪭1/2.

I love me some Kevin Kwan, and this book is the perfect frothy confection that you expect from him. In a way, it's his "Four Weddings and a Funeral" that focuses on the wealthy Greshamsbury family, Thomas Tong and his daughter Eden, and the mysterious man who knows all the secrets. It was just pure fun.

Book 85: I hope this finds you well by Natalie Sue

 I just finished I Hope This Finds You Well and I give it ★★★1/2.

This is yet another workplace novel about a disenchanted Millenial who hates her job and had something horrible happen to her in her youth. There's an interesting premise--an HR error allows her to read everyone else's emails--and she tries to be a better worker and human being but it's a struggle. It's well written but I've ready too many of these types of books recently to really enjoy them.

Book 84: Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong

 I just finished Goodbye, Vitamin and give it 💊💊💊💊💊.

Ruth leaves her ex-fiance, her job, and her life in San Francisco to spend a year helping her mother take care of her dad, who is slowly (and then quickly) failing from Alzheimer's. It's a novel told with love, compassion, and empathy, and I just loved it. It sounds like it could be depressing but trust me, it isn't. It's so hopeful and generous. 

Book 83: One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware

 I just finished One Perfect Couple and I give it 🌴🌴🌴🌴 1/2.

I love Ruth Ware and this new book did not disappoint--it arrived in my Kindle at 9pm Monday night and I finished it at about 2pm on Tuesday. It's a cross between Lord of the Flies and every thriller ever written abot filming a reality show on an island. 

It's typical Ruth Ware--it moves quickly, it's very plot driven, and it features a strong heroine. But the other characters on the island, especially the other women, are also very strong and unique. It takes an excellent writer to be able to have such a fast moving plot AND to create such special characters. 

I had to take off half a palm tree because of two parts of the book where we have no idea how something happened but other than that it was great. 

Book 82: Exit Interview: The Life and Death of my Ambitious Career by Kristi Coulter

 I just finished Exit Interview and I give it ☆☆☆☆.

This is the true story of Kristi's years working at Amazon. It shows Amazon to be a completely messed up workplace, sometimes driven by the whims of Jeff Bezos and constrained by a bunch of hoity toity mission statement goals. It was interesting but she clearly worked at Amazon way too long and this book is testament to that--it's just too long.

Book 81: Anita De Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzales

 I just finished Anita De Monte Laughs Last and I give it ☆☆☆☆☆.

What a great book. Beautifully written and evocative and so much good stuff. It's a story told in two time periods: Anita De Monte is an artist who is overshadowed by her artist husband, who pushes her out a window in a fit of rage (no spoiler, really). De Monte is basically forgotten. 30 years or so later, Brown first-gen Hispanic student Raquel Toro is researching her honors thesis and examines both De Monte's life and her own story of her relationship with a rich young white man.  There's a bit of magical realism and Santeria in this which came as a surprise when I started reading that part but it was interesting and well done. This book is all about how women's and minority voices get so easily silenced.  Just a great read. 

Book 80: Very Bad Company by Emma Rosenblum

 I just finished Very Bad Company and I give it ★★★★ 1/2. 

I really liked Rosenblum's first book (Bad Summer People) and I liked this one as well! It's the story of an executive retreat of a tech company that is about to be sold, and how all the people react to the sale. There's also a mysterious death which brings all kinds of bad secrets out. No one is perfect and some characters are awful but this was a fun read.

Book 79: Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Dolan

 I just finished Ordinary Human Failings by Megan Dolan and I give it ★★★. 

I thought this book would be a story of whether one child killed another, and how an intrepid reporter figured it out. Instead, it was a character study of a bitter and poor family from Ireland. Not quite my cup of tea.

Book 78: Lucky by Jane Smiley

 I just finished Lucky and I give it 📙📙 1/2.

The only reason I kept reading this book is because it was set in my hometown (St. Louis), very very close to the neighborhood where I grew up. This is a fake memoir of a not-successful folk singer who made a lot of money through a few lucky breaks and then just....doesn't do a lot. She engages with her family, she sleeps with lots and lots of guys, she writes really bad lyrics.    NOTHING. HAPPENS. There's a weird twist at the end which made little sense. If you didn't go to high school with me, you probably don't need to read this book.

Book 77: The Manor House by Gilly MacMillan

 I just finished The Manor House and I give it ☝☝☝☝.

This is a twisty, plot driven mystery--who killed lottery winner Tom? Was it his wife Nicole, his friend who needed money (Patrick), the vagrant in the woods, the weird housekeeper Kitty, or the sketchy couple Olly and Sasha? I kept reading til I found out who it was, and then I kept reading AFTER because there were two more twists after the killer is revealed! So many twists! I liked this book of twisty mystery.

Book 66: Expiration Dates by Rebecca Searle

 I just finished Expiration Dates and I give it 💗💗💗💗.

I'm really not a romance reader, and I think it might be stretching to call it a romance, but I was charmed by this book and read it in a few hours. It's not great literature, but it is a very sweet story. The premise is: Production Assistant Daphne receives a slip of paper whenever she meets a potential boyfriend that has the boyfriend's name and the length of time that the relationship will last. So yeah, you kind of have to suspend belief from the git-go with this book. Anyway, we learn about a few of the 'short term' boyfriends and then Daphne meets Jake. Jake's note has no length of time on it--it's just blank. What does that mean? How does Daphne know if Jake is indeed the one? Daphne is a smart and enjoyable character, even when there is kind of a big swerve about two-thirds of the way through the book. Anyway, after so many police procedurals this was a great palate cleanser of a book.

Book 65: Being Henry: The Fonz and Beyond by Henry Winkler

 I just finished Being Henry and I give it ☆☆☆☆.

This memoir is pretty good. Certainly I remember The Fonz from Happy Days (its first few years were when I was in High School and then I had a hiatus during college, but I probably watched it a bit after maybe? I don't recall. Anyway, this is an interesting book how Winkler dealt with fame, how he got stereotypes and found it hard to get another job after Happy Days, how he got into directing, and how therapy helped him deal with his career issues as well as his family issues (his parents seemed like real pieces of work). He seems like a generally nice guy, if a little anxious, and he certainly loves his family and friends. I think I got this for $2 or so on Amazon and it was certainly worth that!

Book 64: Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

 I just finished EIMFHKS and I give it ⁍⁍⁍. 

I don't like books with chatty first person narrators, I don't like the 'oh look I'm pulling back the curtain' feeling of Ernest, I was struggling to keep up with all the characters, and this is just not the book (or series) (sadly) for me. 

I don't like Richard Osman either. 

Book 63: My Latest Grievance by Elinor Lipman

 I just finished My Latest Grievance and I give it ☆☆☆ 1/2.

I know I said I was done with my revisiting of Elinor's books but this one came across on the Unlimited so I gave it another read. I remembered very little about it, except the main character/narrator has the same voice as in all her other books. It was ok. It was more interesting to read as my campus had unionized (the main character's parents are union organizers at a college). But other than that, this was just an ok book.

Book 62: End of Story by AJ Finn

 I just finished End of Story and I give it 🗡🗡🗡🗡.

I liked  "The Woman in the Window" and I liked this book more. Nicky is invited to visit an author she idolizes--Sebastian Trapp--and to write what is supposed to be a 'private memoir' for a dying man. Trapp's first wife and son went 'missing' twenty years prior, and Nicky, a mystery aficionado, wonders if she might find out what really happened. At the house, she meets not only Trapp, but his second wife Diana, his daughter Maddy, and his nephew Fred. As she starts to put the puzzle pieces together, truths start to arise for her and for other members of the family. If you like mysteries, and mysteries about mysteries, this book might be of interest to you.

Book 61: Spoken Bones by NC Lewis

 I just finished Spoken Bones and I give it 🦴🦴🦴1/2 .

This is the first book in a series that features a detective named Fenella Sallow and it wasn't bad. Fenella is an ok character, but the other detectives were all kind of the same. She's a detective in a small town with an obnoxious boss. There were lots and lots of potential suspects for the crime (a murder of a popular citizen) and, well, there were just too many suspects.  It was well written but I'm not sure if I'm interested in reading any more.

Book 60: The Ladies Man by Elinor Lipman

 I re-read The Ladies Man and give it ★★★. Not sure exactly what I loved about this book in the past. It's just kind of icky now. Gross men, meddling women, too much of a focus on looks, some body shaming--no bueno.

Book 60: The Inn at Lake Devine by Elinor Lipman

 I just finished The Inn at Lake Devine and I give it ✡✡✡✡ 1/2. 

This is a re-read of an older book (part of 'rereading Elinor Lipman' phase and I haven't read it in a long time. Natalie learns as a young girl that a resort in Vermont (near where her Newton-based family has been vacationing) is restricted (ie allows no Jews) and this fact doesn't necessarily affect her through her whole life but it has a huge influence on what happens in the story. This is a good story with a lot of humor and some important messages. I took off a half a star because as much as I love Lipman's voice, all her main characters (regardless of the book) speak in the same voice. 

Book 59: Game of Lies by Clare Mackintosh

 I just finished Game of Lies and I give it 🔍🔍🔍🔍.

This is the second book in the DC Morgan series, set at the border of Wales and England, and I liked it as well (and maybe even more) than the first one, The Last Party. Ffion Morgan is a DC who doesn't play by the rules and has never left the small town where she grew up, so her youthful indiscretions seem to follow her during the investigations she undertakes. In this book, she investigates the disappearance of a contest on a reality show that is being filmed near her town. The reality show is bonkers and I can't even describe it. There are lots of characters in this book (reality show) but it is very easy to keep them all straight. She reunites with the detective she met in the first book (Leo) and there's some good chemistry there. All in all, I really liked this book and Mackintosh reminds me a bit of Elly Griffiths so there's that. 

Book 58: The Last Word by Elly Griffiths

 I just finished The Last Word and I give it 🗡🗡🗡🗡 1/2 stars.

I am a huge huge huge Elly Griffiths fan, and this book is the fourth book in her Harbinder Kaur series. This one, though, has very little Harbinder in it, instead revisiting some of the characters from her second book, The Postscript Murders. The book focuses mainly on Benedict, Natalka and Edwin, the latter two having started a private investigation agency. They are hired by two sisters who want to pin the death of their mother on their mother's second husband. Anyway, Benedict and Edwin go 'undercover' to a writer's retreat to try to find answers. They find more murders, and many suspects. 

I didn't really remember these characters that well from three years ago (when the book was published) but it works fine as a stand-alone story. It is well written and quite intriguing, and moves along really well. The end was kind of rushed and I said 'huh?' at one point, but it was a good book that I enjoyed.

I do miss Ruth Galloway though. I may need to go back and reread them all!

Book 57: Then She Found Me by Elinor Lipman

 I just finished Then She Found Me and I give it 💄💄💄💄💄.

I'm a big Elinor Lipman fan, and I've read all her books and enjoyed them, but I like her earlier work the best. This is her first novel, set before cell phones and internet and the 'she' in the book is Bernice who 'finds' April (the me), her birth daughter. Bernice is quite the character, and much of what happens in this 1990 book is kind of problematic today. I do love this one though.

Book 56: The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods

 I just finished The Lost Bookshop and I give it 📖. 

It's been described as 'charming and uplifting' and yes, it gets uplifting at the end and I guess there is a bit of charm but most of it is about women with abusive family members and there is nothing charming and uplifting in that.  This book is extremely well reviewed but it just didn't do it for me.

Book 55: Women of Good Fortune by Sophie Wan

 I just finished Women of Good Fortune and I give it ✡✦✧✵. Really, I give it 3 3/4 stars because it isn't a four star book, so I rounded up. 

This is a book about three women in Shanghai: Lulu, who is getting married to a very wealthy man; Rina, Lulu's roommate who is torn between her career and settling down to get married; and Jane, who hates how she looks and is married to a man who she thinks married her for her money. Lulu's mother-in-law-to-be is a horrible person, and the novel suggests that wealth=horrible people. Lulu is unsure she really wants to be married, and her two friends come up with a plan: steal all the red envelopes (filled with cash) that the couple will receive at their marriage, split the money, and then go off to live their perfect lives (Lulu will live in Thailand, Jane will get plastic surgery, and Rina will get her eggs frozen). This has "Oceans 11" vibes but without the joy and silliness of Oceans 11. There are a few good twists that I didn't see coming, and once the actual 'heist' occurs it is a fast and fun read, but these three women are so miserable that it is hard to enjoy the book before the heist begins. I learned a lot about Chinese culture so that's a plus?

Book 54: The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens of the Tower of London by Christopher Skaife.

 I just finished The Ravenmaster and I give it 🐦🐦🐦🐦🐦.

This is the memoir from a man who until recently was a Beefeater (Tower Warden) in charge of the ravens at the Tower. If you've visited there, you know that there is a myth that if the ravens leave the Tower, the empire would fall (and he shares the history of this myth in the book). He travels the path of his childhood and his life in the army prior to becoming a Beefeater (he's one tough guy) and shares stories of the daily routine and the individual personalities of the ravens. It's quite chatty and charming, some might find it too saccharine but I really liked it. 

Book 53: The Woman on the Ledge by Ruth Mancini

 I just finished The Woman on the Ledge and I give it ⭒⭒⭒.

I had great hopes for this book---unreliable narrator, twists galore, and it started to have a good "Oceans 11" vibe. But I was not prepared for it to morph into a story about girls being 'groomed' and all the twisty fun kind of went away. 

Book 52: The Weekend Retreat by Tara Lashkowski

 I just finished The Weekend Retreat and give it ✦✦✦.

Three siblings and their partners travel to their palatial family estate in upstate New York to celebrate two of the sibling's birthdays. As these things tend to go with thrillers of wealthy people: they all have secrets, they all will get stuck in the palatial estate, and someone (or someoneS) will die.  That gets told in the first page! Then you have to read the story to figure out who died, what were their secrets, and why they're stuck. This one had some interesting characters but they were all pretty much awful people. It was a quick read and a good dreary-afternoon book for me.

Book 51: Don't Think Dear: On Loving and Leaving Ballet by Alice Robb

 I just finished Don't Think Dear and give it 🩰 (that's two stars).

I am a sucker for a ballet book, especially a first person one, but this is not a good book. Basically, the author borrows heavily (probably more than is academically correct) from other published works to share how dancers like Misty Copeland and Margot Fonteyn suffered and coped with the challenges of being a ballerina. Then after quoting a ballerina extensively, Robb would write a paragraph basically agreeing with the former ballerina and then giving a two sentence "and I saw this too!" which was just annoying. No new ground is tread in this book.

Book 50: My Favorite Terrible Thing by Madelein Henry

 I just finished My Favorite Terrible Thing and I give it ☆☆☆ 1/3. 

I enjoyed the first two thirds of the book--the story of a private detective finding a missing person--an author who had written a best selling and highly compelling novel who disappeared the day of her wedding. There were lots of references to Donna Tartt and I thought this book would be like that. I enjoyed following how Nina investigated the mystery. The last third of the book contains a huge twist which was creepy and unbelievable. The explanation for the twist was not believable either. So that pretty much killed it for me--4 stars for the first 2/3, two stars for the last 1/3. 

Book 49: Up-Island Harbor by Jean Stone

 I just finished Up-Island Harbor and I give it 🏝🏝🏝 3/4. 

In my search for the next Elin Hilderbrand, I gave this book a try. It's set on Martha's Vineyard, but in a 'non touristy' part so we never get quite the flavor of what it is like to live on MV. Maddie has come to visit her late Grandmother's house, which was left to her when her grandmother died. She is just planning to make a quick visit since she hadn't seen her grandmother for years (her mother died when she was a child). However, upon arrival, there are THINGS that signal to her that mayyybbbeee she shouldn't leave the island (yes, one of these is a guy, but this really isn't a romance). I loved the part of the plot about the native Americans on the island, but this book just went on far too long (three trips to the hospital for Maddie? Please).  The author will write more in the series but not sure if I'll read them or not.

Book 48: The Happy Couple by Naoise Dolan

I just finished The Happy Couple and I give it  💒💒💒💒. 

Celine and Luke are engaged. But will they get married?

That's the plot of this novel. It's told from the perspectives of Celine, Luke, Celine's sister, and a few of their friends. Celine is a pianist, and Luke is an IT who 'is bad at relationships'. They love each other, but is that enough? I really liked this book. It is written quite briskly with the voices of different people all very strong. Everyone is flawed but kind of likeable. I was very invested in whether they would actually get together or not. 

Book 47: Private Equity by Carrie Sun

 I just finished Private Equity and I give it 💲💲💲1/2.

Sun's memoir is the story of her experiences working as the assistant to the head of a hedge fund.  "Boone Prescott" (not his real name) runs "Carbon" (not its real name) and Carrie (her real name) helps run him. It's the story of how the amount of work pushes Carrie to the edge, and as a memoir it also covers earlier trauma from her parents, her ex-fiance,  and from a violent situation when she was at college. Anyway, it's kind of an interesting book but we never really know WHY the job is so overwhelming. She doesn't discuss what she actually does, so it's hard to sympathize with her (she goes into great detail about the perks---gifts, parties, trips, lunches, etcetera). I'm not sad I read this but I find it kind of hard to empathize with her about her job. 

Book 46: The Lake of Lost Girls

 I just finished The Lake of Lost Girls by Katherine Green and I give it 🌊🌊🌊 12. It's a fine twisty thriller. Read my review at Goodreads!

Book 45: Going Infinite by Michael Lewis

 I just finished Going Infinite and I give it 💲💲💲. This nonfiction book is the story of Sam Bankman-Fried, who was recently sentenced to 25 years in prison for defrauding customers in his cryptocurrency exchange. Michael Lewis is a good writer, but he knows so much about the financial world that someone who doesn't (ie me) gets lost really fast. Really fast. 

Book 44: Pete and Alice In Maine by Caitlin Shetterly

 I just finished Pete and Alice in Maine and I give it ★★★★★.

I really liked this novel. It is the start of the pandemic, and Pete and Alice leave NYC for their summer house in Maine with their two daughters and cat, Ingmar. Alice has recently learned of Pete's infidelity, so things are a little tense. As they navigate their pandemic lives, their family comes together and tears apart in ways that can only be due to the pandemic. It's a simple, real, heartbreaking and hopeful book, and I am so glad I read it. 

Book 43: Worry by Alexandra Tanner

 I just tried to finish Worry and I didn't. I give it 👎👎. I do not want to spend any more time with Jules and Poppy. 

Book 41: If Something Happens to Me by Alex Finley

 I just finished If Something Happens to Me and I give it 😕😕😕. Read my review at Goodreads.

Book 42: Friends in Napa by Sheila Yasmin Marikar

 I just read Friends in Napa and I give it 🍇🍇🍇.

This book is from Mindy Kaling's imprint Mindy's Book Studio, which focuses on Indian women writers, and I think that is a great thing. This book is not that great, though, although it has the elements I tend to enjoy: friends from college getting together, a murder, a very plot-driven story. The friends getting together are Anjali and her (non-Indian) husband, Rachel and Raj, Victoria, and Hari. The book begins with a murder of someone by a woman in stilletos, and the rest of the book is the weekend before the murder, where Rachel and Raj invite their friends to the grand opening of their Napa vineyard. There are a couple plots floating around about old friendships and new jealousies, which were pretty well drawn. I just didn't care that much about the characters, instead I just kept reading to find out who got murdered and who was the murderer. If you're like me, you'll know about 3/4 of the way in who is who. 

Book 40: Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee

 I just finished Free Food for Millionaires and I give it 🪭🪭🪭🪭.

This is kind of a long book with a lot going on. It focuses on Casey Han and how she is navigating her post-Princeton years after she gets thrown out of her family's home for being sassy to her very traditional father. Casey's discovery of who she is and who she wants takes up much of the book. There's a rich cast of characters who are also learning about themselves: Casey's very traditional mother Leah, who sings in the church choir; her cousin Ella, who marries what looks to be the perfect man and finds out that he really isn't, and her sister Tina, who is the 'good daughter' compared to Casey. The characters are written so well. The problems with this book is that it can be repetitive in places, some of the storylines kind of fizzled (all the stuff with Sabine) and most of the men were horrible. But all in all, a good (if long) read.

Book 39: Class by Stephanie Land

 I just finished Class by Stephanie Land and I give it 🧹🧹🧹.

Class is a sequel to her first book, Maid, and the subtitle is "A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education".  Class follows Land as she moves to Missoula to attend the University of Montana and, hopefully, gain admittance to their MFA in writing program. She continues her housecleaning work to try to make ends meet, all the while raising her daughter basically on her own. 

There's little new territory covered in this book. The challenges of being poor in America are devastating, and she continues to highlight this devastation, but doesn't really bring anything new to it. She continues to have horrible taste in men, and the book also highlights many of the (to me) bad decisions she makes. I thought I'd get some new insights into the challenges of being poor while going to college, but instead she shares how she really kind of blows off her classes (as well as her application to the MFA program). At the end, she is faced with a decision about an unplanned pregnancy  that had me very, very judgey (I'm kind of embarrased to write that) and that kind of ruined the whole book for me. Anyway, not a favorite. 

Book 38: Green Dot by Madeleine Gray

 I've just finished Green Dot and I give it 💚💚💚💚💚.

Wow. This book. This astonishing book. It's the story of a woman growing up, of love, of desire, and of what we will or won't do for the people we love. Hera is a recent college graduate in Sydney, living with her Dad.  She has good friends, a recent breakup, and an unclear vision of her future. At her 'content moderation' job, she meets and falls in love with an older journalist, who is married. The novel centers on the development of their relationship, and her perceptions of what she will and won't accept, and how that changes during the course of the relationship. I steeled myself for a heartbreaking conclusion at about the 75% mark, and I was so invested in Hera and her happiness. Just a great book.

Book 37: The Midnight Feast

I just finished an ARC of The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley and I give it ❤❤❤❤❤. Read my review at Goodreads!

Book 36: Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown

 I just finished Society of Lies and I give it ✸✸✸✸. If you like dark academia, read by review on Goodreads!

Book 35: The Longest Race by Kara Goucher

 I just finished " Inside the Secret World of Abuse, Doping, and Deception on Nike's Elite Running Team" by Kara Goucher and I give it 👟👟👟 1/2 stars.

Goucher was a world class long distance runner who graduated from Colorado and then went to 'work' as a member of The Oregon Project, a track team coached by Alberto Salazar. This memoir details her time at the Oregon Project (funded by Nike) and the various abuses she dealt with: sexual abuse from Salazar, mental abuse from Nike, physical abuse she sustained with the training, doping abuse (probably) from her blind acceptance to do anything Salazar told her. I think this was kind of my problem with the book--she knew a lot of bad stuff was happening but because she wanted to be the best long distance runner, she just ignored them. She eventually blew a bunch of whistles, but probably to no real avail. I appreciate that she finally told this story, but at the same time feel she missed some opportunities to really change the world.

Book 34 The Search Party by Hannah Richell

 I just finished The Search Party by Hannah Richell and I give it 🌃🌃🌃🌃.

I'm a sucker for twisty domestic thrillers when everyone has SECRETS SECRETS SECRETS and this one totally fits that bill. Four families go 'glamping' at a resort called Wildernest (eye roll) that is owned by one of the couples (it's sort of the shake down cruise for Wildernest). During the course of the long weekend, one of the children goes missing which sets off a search (hence the title) as well as the discovery of lots and lots of secrets (who had an affair, who was the father of a baby, who owes who money, who is a reality star a-hole, etc). There are just a ton of secrets that come to light in this book. It moves in a non-linear fashion between 'Sunday' (when things are slowly resolving) and Friday and Saturday (when all the bad things happen) and of course you think you know who is being 'talked about' in the Sunday chapters but in reality there are TWISTS GALORE! Only four stars though because there are just too many characters to keep track of---four couples (eight adults), eight children, local people, etc. Some of the 'secrets' were not really helping to move the story along and didn't get resolved. But if you like a nice twisty story--this is fine. Richell is no Ruth Ware but as far as these go, it's pretty good.

Book 32: Same as it Ever Was by Claire Lombardo

I just finished the ARC of Same As It Ever Was and I loved it! ✹✹✹✹✹ 

Read my review at Goodreads!

Book 33: Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman

 I just finished Help WAnted and I give it ✴✴✴✴✴.

Help Wanted is a serio-comic novel about a week or so in the lives of a group of people who work for a chain store (similar to Target) in a depressed town in New York state. The group of employees work in a department called "Movement" which is all about getting merchandise boxes off a truck and onto the selling floor. We learn a bit about the lives of the crew and how they ended up in Movement, and how they bond by the dislike of their boss, Meredith. When the store manager gets a promotion and Meredith is up for his job, several crew members are hopeful they might get a promotion and then join together to plot how to get their disliked boss the top job. Whether there can be 'movement' in their lives, or whether they are stuck in a dead end place, is the question that will be answered by this book. I really liked it. 

Book 31: The Hunter by Tana French

 I just finished The Hunter and I give it ☆☆☆☆. This had all the hallmarks of a Tana French book--great Irish setting, quirky characters, menacing undertones throughout the whole book. This novel revisits the characters from The Searcher, and has Trey's father returning to the little town where she lives with some type of 'scam' in mind. Retired Chicago cop Cal and his partner Lena want to make sure Trey doesn't get into trouble given her father's proclivities, but Trey is out to revenge her brother's death (which was the focus of The Searcher). I liked this book but it seemed to move a low more slowly than her other books, and I sped through the last part just to find out 'who did it'. A good book but not my favorite. 

Book 30: First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

 I just finished First Lie Wins and I give it ✵✵✵ 3/4 stars.  This book is quite the talk of the book world, and is a Reese's book club pick. It's a thriller-type of book, and it is one of those that twists and twists and twists and twists. The main character, Lucca has a job where she basically goes undercover and gets dirt on people so her boss, "Mr. Smith", can blackmail them or steal from them or something. It is sort of John Grisham-like in that it moves as a very fast pace and it was ok--I kept reading to figure out how all the threads came together but it got so twisty at the end I could hardly keep up.

Book 29: Good Material by Dolly Alderton

 I just finished Good Material and I give it ☆☆☆☆1/2. This was a really good novel.

I guess it could be classified as a Rom-Com? But not really? Andy is a stand-up comic who, at the start of the novel, is broken up with by his girlfriend Jen. Most of the novel is the first six (maybe eight) months after the breakup as Andy tries to come to terms with the breakup. At the same time, he is struggling with his career and tries different things to try to move on and change his life (he lives on a houseboat, he starts working out). It's funny but it's sad (because Andy is sad) and it seems to be a very realistic view of what it is like to be single when you're at the age (mid-30s) when all your friends are settling down to a 'real' life. 

I took off a star because I am struggling with whether the book needed the last 10% or not--it certainly changes how I viewed the first 90% but not sure if I needed it or not. If you read this book I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Book 28: The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan

 Lucky lucky lucky me got to read an ARC of this book! See my review here! Hint: five stars. Five big stars.

Book 27: Astor by Anderson Cooper and Katharine Howe

 I just read Astor and I give it I read the first book these ✰✰✰ 1/2 stars. 

I read the first book these two wrote together, "Vanderbilt" which was the history of Anderson's family. I am a big fan of gilded age stuff so I wanted to read their take on the Astor's. I'm also interested in what happened to these huge gilded age fortunes. 

This book was interesting for the first half or so, as it traveled well-worn gilded age stories but I did learn more about how the Astors got so rich (not just the fur trade, but also they owned a huge amount of real estate in Manhattan). I also thought the sections on the Astor who died on the Titanic was interesting. But once the fortune got disseminated among ancestors, and much of it got squandered (which apparently is the way these Gilded Age fortunes go), it wasn't so interesting. There was an odd chapter about a bar at the Astor Hotel as a meeting place for gays for many years mid-century, but that wasn't much about the Astors as it was as a cultural moment. It was interesting, but not a great fit for the book. The final chapter on Brooke Astor was ok but just a sad way for this family story to end.

Anyway, I don't completely recommend but if you are interested in rich families loosing it all, this could be a book for you. 

Book 26: Secretary of the City by Lee Navlen

 I just finished Secretary of the City and I give it ★★★★1/2.  It's a novella that is basically a diary of a Secretary to a wealthy man who runs some type of vague foundation. The story covers two weeks when 1. the man's wife walked away from a plane crash and then pretended that she wasn't on the plane and 2. the man's father-in-law decides to run for President. It's a story about the people who support the wealthy family and it's pretty funny but somewhat ridiculous. You can probably read this is an hour.

Book 25: Then we get to the end by Joshua Ferris

 I just finished Then We Get to the End and I give it ✩✩✩.

This should have been right up my alley--a novel about advertising people in Chicago (which I was once!) getting laid off (which I had been!) and it was billed as being hilarious but I just found it sad. Maybe it hit too close to home?

Book 24: Cork Dork by Bianca Bosker

 I just finished Cork Dork and I can only give it ✩✩✩. I loved Get The Picture so much but Cork Dork--same idea (deep dive into a subculture), same great writing--was a subculture I'm just not that into. Well I'm not into it at all. If you are a wine person--and not even a collector, just someone who enjoys wine and wants to know more about it--you might like this book. 

Book 23: House Lessons by Erica Bauermeister

 I just finished House Lessons and I give it ✰✰✰✰✰. Five stars people!

Vera recommended this book on her blog and I discovered I had acquired it about six months ago but hadn't read it yet. It is the story of a Seattle family who renovate an old and decrepit house in Port Townsend, Washington. And of course it isn't just that, it is a meditation on architecture and family and symmetry and it is just wonderful.

I wanted to know more--about her architect that believes in aliens, about putting a note in the walls for future owners (we didn't do that with our house, darn it!)--but those are small things to comment on when a book is this perfecct. 

Book 22: Get the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See

 I just finished Get The Picture by Bianca Bosker and I give it ★★★★★. Five stars! This is the best book I've read in a while.

This book is for anyone who has ever looked at a piece of contemporary artwork and has  1.  been confused or 2. been disgusted or 3. said outloud 'if that's art, I could have done it' or 4. said 'my 4 year old does better art than that.'  The book chronicle's Bosker's journal to develop an 'eye' (as they say in the art world) for contemporary art, and to do so she works (for free) in art galleries, assists an artist in her studio, and works as a guard for the Guggenheim museum in New York (known by guards as the 'Goog'). She talks to many people in the art world to learn what they do, how they view work, what makes art art, and how the art world works. It's fascinating, and it will change the way you look at and think about art. She focuses mainly on contemporary art (that is, art that is being made right now) although she does a ton of research into how the modern art world evolved. 

I hurried up and got her first book, "Cork Dork", about the wine industry because I think it will be great as well. 

Highly recommend.

Book 21: The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers by Sarah Tomlinson

 I just finished The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers by Sarah Tomlinson and I give it ★★★1/2 stars. 

I was looking forward to this book but it was kind of--boggy. If that makes any sense. Here's the plot: Mari, a ghostwriter, is hired to write a memoir of a famous groupie-like woman who was involved with three members of the Midnight Ramblers, a big big 70s band. After spending several days listening to the groupie's (criticism alert) dramatic and overthought memories, Mari gets fired. Quickly, though, she is hired by a member of the band, Dante, whose own ghostwriter disappeared. Through this all, Mari is trying to figure out if the death of a band member fifty years prior was an accident, a suicide, or a murder. 

The first 1/3 of the book is so draggy I almost didn't finish it. It picks up when Mari goes to work for Dante, but then gets all kinds of nuts in the last 20%. Not necessarily in a bad way. Mari seems a bit naive to write a rock n roll memoir, mch less two of them. It was all---a bit much.

Book 20: The Husband Hunters: American Heiresses Who Married into the British Aristocracy by Anne DeCourcey

 I just finished "The Husband Hunters" by Anne DeCoursey and I give it ✴✴✴.

I love learning about the Gilded Age (and I love watching the Gilded Age on HBO) so I thought I would enjoy this book. It's very well researched and pretty hefty. It is about, as the subtitle suggests, rich American women who went over to the UK and married an artistocratic (yet poor) man. Each chapter talks about one of these Heiresses. 

But, the chapters talk about more than the Heiresses. They talk about the parents, the grandparents, the great grandparents, and on and on. Yes, it is interesting to know how the wealth was built but there seems to be a lot of 'gossipy bits' about, oh I don't know, the Great Aunt Once Removed and it just gets Bogged Down. I wanted to read about their lives once they married and there was some of that, but it was very heavy into history of different families and I didn't find it that interesting. 

It was a good book for reading before bed, since I basically would fall asleep in the middle of a chapter. 

Book 19: The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer

 I just finished "The Lost Story" and I give it ★★★★. Read my review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6252532635. Thanks to the publishers for the ARC!

Book 18: Come and Get It by Kiley Reid

 I just finished Come and Get It and I give it ✵✵✵ 1/2. 

I really liked Reid's book "Such a Fun Age" and in "Come and Get It" she tackles some of the similar themes--race and privilege and sexuality--but it seems a bit clunkier. 

Three women are the focus of the book. Millie is a resident assistant at the University of Arkansas--she's an older student with plans and she is focused enough to get them. Agatha is a visiting professor who meets Millie when she is setting up interviews for her research into female behaviors. Kennedy is a student who lives in Millie's dorm.  When Millie  discovers she can hear what's happening in Kennedy's suite, life in the dorm kind of spirals out of control when Millie allows Agatha to listen in and use what she hears for columns in Teen Vogue. As the story progresses, we learn about Kennedy's secret and how that affects her interactions with students and with school. 

The book is well written, and some of the secondary characters are fun to read about, but the idea that both Agatha and Millie are both completely unethical makes it hard to read some of the book or to root for them as primary characters (I think we're supposed to). Anyway, I'm glad I read it, I guess, but that's about it.